


Acrophobia

by symposiac



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Acrophobia, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxious Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Connor (Detroit: Become Human) Whump, Connor Needs A Hug, Connor-centric, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Parent Hank Anderson, Graphic Description of Corpses, Hank Anderson Swears, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, I Tried, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Hank Anderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:33:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29262834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/symposiac/pseuds/symposiac
Summary: ac·ro·pho·bi·a/ˌakrəˈfōbēə/nounextreme or irrational fear of heights.Deviancy brought many feelings to the surface. This obviously included fear, and Connor knew that. But, that didn't mean he wasn't caught off guard by the fact that a mere ledge could induce so much panic.———OR: Connor doesn’t know he’s afraid of heights until he has a case where he returns to a particularly high roof. It goes downhill from there— Hank tries his best to console the android like the awkward but protective guy he is.
Relationships: Connor & Sumo (Detroit: Become Human), Hank Anderson & Connor, Hank Anderson & Connor & Sumo
Kudos: 75





	Acrophobia

**Author's Note:**

> I'm bad at fanfiction so don't come for me, I just wanted to write whump. So I did. T
> 
> here's probably inaccuracies and spelling errors littered everywhere throughout, I'm too lazy to do research and my only source of spelling correction was google docs. I don't know how to use fonts either. Whoops. 
> 
> The end might be a little rushed and if it is, my bad, I tried. So, anyways, hope you enjoy. I'm out.

ac·ro·pho·bi·a  
/ˌakrəˈfōbēə/  
noun  
extreme or irrational fear of heights.

Connor’s deviancy came with new and unfamiliar feelings. He expected this, although it didn’t mean he wouldn’t dread this. At times he truly wanted to revert back to his machine-like behavior, just following given instructions without emotion. But he realized, there were more cons to that particular desire than pros. So, the RK800 eventually just gave in and tried to get used to these newly found emotions: one of them being fear.

As said previously, this was more or less expected in Connor’s mind, despite that not making it any less uncomfortable. The android still didn’t get frightened that easily anyway. He’s already seen his fair share of gore and heard enough twisted stories to not be as affected as your average person or android. Therefore, venturing up to the roof of this hotel building, he didn’t expect anything bad to occur. Of course, his expectations were not met. He was making his way up to said location for a case, Lieutenant Anderson and a few others from the DPD accompanying him on it. Hank and Connor currently stood in an elevator that was transporting the pair there. Connor separately wondered why so many of his cases included going to the roof. That made three now. Brief memories of the mission where he sacrificed himself for Emma, as well as the traumatization from Simon flashed through his mind despite his reluctance to let it.

“Connor, kid. You glitchin’ out something?” A gruff voice said with a soft nudge to his shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts. The android unnecessarily straightened his tie and shook his head.

“No, apologies Lieutenant. I was simply thinking.” Hank huffed, grumbling something Connor easily made out to be “God sakes, I told you to call me Hank about a bajillion times now.” before the elevator quietly slid open to reveal the door that led to the roof. The older male didn’t bother saying anything and stepped out with Connor following.

Opening the door, many things were apparent. The scent of presumably evaporated thirium mixed with a decomposing cadaver filled Connor’s enhanced sense of smell. The unpleasant smell was the result of two deceased bodies sitting against the railing, one android while one a human. The android presented as an adult, probably programmed to be an age akin to Connor’s. The human corpse was one of a child he scanned to identify was the age of nine. It would almost remind him of Kara and Alice, if they weren’t sat there dead. 

Task: Figure out the identity of the murder, and how the murder happened.

The android’s thirium pump had been ripped out in a not so professional manner with shards of broken glass embedded in it’s left forearm, multiple stab wounds in his torso as well. Meanwhile, the child had the same injuries besides the damage to the thirium pump; the same olive tinted glass scattered throughout her whole right arm and a similar amount of stab wounds, if not more in her chest. Both Connor and Hank grimaced at the sight even if they were expecting it. 

“Jesus christ, what sick bastard does this? To a kid, too.” Hank grumbled bitterly to nobody in particular. Although Connor had no response, his expression shows the agreement. Prior to being a deviant Connor would have no reaction, just figuring out the most efficient way to solve the case and be able to reprimand the murderer. That’s a thing the RK800 missed about being a machine, not being able to feel such remorse while doing investigations.

“Other people occupying this hotel claimed there was a party up here a night or two ago, there was no clear date specified, and such claims have been backed up by evidence of food and party decorations scattered around. The staff also backed them up by saying that somebody reserved the roof at that time but in a false name. ” Connor started. Either the murder was premeditated, Connor supposed, or the killer was just paranoid. There were obviously other reasons, but the detective found those to be most sensible. “It’s been said that perhaps it happened during that period.” 

Connor walked closer, crouching down to scan the bodies. The child was identified as Natalie Summers, born on 8/16/2029 with no occupation or criminal record. As for the other, his model was AF200 and his name was registered as Michael. He scanned for evaporated thirum, bright shades of blue dripping out of the male’s body flooding into his vision. Michael also appeared to have thirium on his knuckles, almost as if he’d punched a separate entity.

“The male has fifteen stab wounds and the girl has eight. There are roughly about nine glass shards visibly lodged in the android’s arm and thirteen in the child’s.” Connor informed the surrounding people investigating. Hank made a grunt of disapproval nearby. The glass seemed to be remnant of an alcohol bottle but of what type of drink he was unsure, and the stab wounds were from a stainless steel switchblade. The stab wounds were definitely the cause of the child’s death, but the android's cause of perish was the removal of it’s thirum pump. This led Connor to further believe that this murder was not planned out, or at least not very much, because the stabs were unnecessary yet they seemed to have been inflicted after the removal of the vital biocomponent. But this hypothesis was not supplied with enough evidence to form a definitive conclusion, so he brushed it off for now and would come back to it after he’d gathered all the evidence.

Connor took his index and his middle finger together, picking up some of the blood off of the child and inserting the substance in his mouth. As his LED circled into a deep yellow, he got the information he needed. The hotel’s occupants’ suspicions were correct, the blood was from around two days ago, and obviously from Natalie Summers. With a heavy sigh, he stood back up and gazed down at the two. He turned on his scanner to look for thirium again, but instead averted his vision to around the corpses. There was nothing of importance, until he saw a trail of saturated blue that had not come from the AF200. There was a trail of small drips, and then a larger pool at the railing along with stains directly on the railing bars. Connor quirked a brow and warily followed the trail all the way to the railing. But to his misfortune, it was a dead end and no further strange evidence was there. Such a thing was still worth noting, though. He closed his eyes to register it as evidence. Mentally, obviously.

But when he opened his eyelids up again.. He wasn’t at the railing of the hotel building. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The location was still familiar, though. Where was he? Wait, what was he holding. More, who was he holding? It was definitely a person-like figure. He leaned back his head to get a better view of them, since he had the person in a hug type of hold. A PL600. 

“S-Simon?” Connor said without thinking, but then it clicked. This android was Daniel, the first suspect he’d come across. They were on the very edge of the building, seemingly in mid-fall. But they weren’t moving. That made no sense according to laws of motion. Why weren’t they moving? 

Incoming Task: Do not fall.

The PL600 looked at him with a glare full of hatred and rage which was enough to break Connor out of his train of thoughts. “You said you weren’t going to hurt me, Connor.”

Connor let the mouth lubricant in his mouth pool before swallowing nervously, similar to what humans did with their saliva when nervous. He knew subconsciously that this was just manipulation of his past memory files, yet it all seemed so real. The cold feeling of Daniel’s artificial skin and the hiss in his tone. He turned his gaze away, almost ashamed. Connor felt like he had his reasons to push him off the building, yet Daniel had been a living being and he’d lied to him about his safety. “I’m sorry, Daniel. I was just a machine accomplishing my tasks then..”

“Excuses, Connor, excuses..” Daniel said, and it almost sounded like Amanda for a second. He inhaled shakily. Why? It’s not like he needed to breath. “It’s like you don’t even care. You don’t even care that you hurt so many deviants. So many living beings, Connor.”

“I- I- I-” He seemed to malfunction. But his biocomponents were running completely fine. “I didn’t know. I know now, Daniel.”

“Liar!” Daniel yelled in his face, LED circling to red and loud noise resulting in a flinch from the RK800. “You’re a faker. You don’t know what real emotions feel like. You’re a heartless machine, RK800. A machine.”

“I-I’m not, Daniel, please. I didn’t mean to, I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.” He pleaded, voice wavering as if he were going to cry. Daniel rolled his eyes.

“Don’t act like a crybaby. Those stupid tear ducts are only for show and you know that.” Daniel chided. Connor nodded submissively, biting his lip with a frown. He had been made his tear ducts so he seemed more able to express emotions to victims to gain their trust. But lately, as of deviancy, he could cry whenever sad or happy or whatever emotion. Connor didn’t like that either. “Stupid detective.. Machine. You are not a deviant like the rest of us. Like me. Like Markus, like North, Josh. Simon.”

The name Simon felt like a punch in the gut, memories of the tower coming back in quick spurts. Connor struggled to speak. But my voice modulator is working fine. “I’m deviant, I’m deviant. Please, I’m deviant. Deviant, deviant..”

“Liar!” Daniel yelled louder than last time. It earned a surprised cry from the detective. “You tried to shoot Markus. Twice. If you were truly deviant, then why would you try to shoot the deviant leader? You’re lying to yourself.” Cold tears ran down Connor’s face. When had he started crying? “That- That was Amanda, I didn’t want to shoot Markus.. You don’t understand, I-”

“Shut up! I’ve heard you already, and I don’t buy it. You are a merciless machine.” Simon interrupted with major frustration. He exhaled, showing the ghost of a smile before his expression returned to the same rage. “And as revenge, I’ll show you the pain I felt.”

Before Connor could react- time appeared to resume. They began to fall, and a strong sense of deja-vu hit him. Falling to his demise, again. Again, he hit the pavement with a deafening crash. But one thing was different.

It hurt so much. It was so painful, but he felt like it was warranted somehow. Daniel was right, he’d killed so many innocent deviants. He squeezed his artificial eyelids shut.

Task failed.

“Goddamnit, Connor, talk to me!” 

The voice startled Connor’s eyes open again, but his vision was blurry from tears. “D-Daniel?”

But this wasn’t Daniel. The low yet concerned voice he remembered as Hank. Hank, his friend and partner. But he was just with Daniel.. Instead, he was gripping the railing on the hotel roof with tears streaming down his face. He was frozen in place, his usually manual breathing erratic and stress levels at a seemingly irrational 84%. It was clear the Lieutenant had been trying to get him to snap out of it. But, Connor still couldn’t move, his gaze lingering over the railing.

It was so high.

So high..

Didn’t he just fall?

Task c̸̝̬̼̗̟̜͊̋͑͝f̸̡̙͖̖̪̯͍͙̥̬̊̍̄̆̆͛̄̂͛̍̂̒̚ǫ̵̣͖̱̤͔̞̼͇̗̘̥̔̾̍̈̐̔͆̈́̈͐a̶̫͕̫̝͖̰̫̺͇̬̯͇̋̉͌̃͆͝m̷̧̼͇̯͙̮̼̳̳̟͎͙͎̺̼̉̔i̸̡̨̖̅̎͑̇̽̐̿̓͋͒̅p̴̡̅̆̍̑̋̃̂͠ľ̷̟̝̙̘̅̍̐̚̕͘͠l̷̙̬̩͊̔̉́̒̔̅̓̕e̸̢̮̪̖̼͉̦̿͌̄̑͒́͆̑̑́͐̕͝͝e̸̯̖̘̬͇̰͓̝̝̪͔̤̯͑̽̋̿̃̀͐͘̚͝ẗ̶̖͔̗́̑́̂̕͠ͅḓ̷̨̬̘̞͉̱̻̪̹̄͋̃̉͛͗͆͆͑̅͘͝͝ë̸̺̣͉́͂͂ͅd̶̺̗̠͓͙͚̞̦͕̝̟̓̑́̍̽̓̍̅̽͐̉

Remaining Task: Figure out the identity of the murder, and how the murder happened.

Right. He was at a murder scene. The murder scene of Michael and Natalie Summers. The RK800 needed to figure out who the culprit was.

But his gaze stayed on the threatening height of the building.

“Connor, I swear to fuck.” Hank snarled, but held no aggression behind it. It instead held concern. “Son, c’mon. I know you can’t stay here forever.”

He was so far up. So high. 

“Too high.” Connor choked out quietly. Hank didn’t hear him.

“What?”

“It’s too high.. T-too high, Lieutenant.” He repeated with elaboration. Subtle realization seemed to seep into Anderson’s features, although not knowing why he was so scared, he needed to get Connor away from the edge. 

“Okay, alright. Uh, can I touch you, Connor?” Hank wasn’t the best with emotions. Connor knew that. They’d been working together for some time now. Everytime a victim began to cry, or go into panic, it was usually up to Connor. But, goddamnit, if his Connor was scared, he was going to try and help. 

It took a moment of complete stillness and silence before Connor nodded. Hank put one hand around Connor and the other gently placed on his chest. He wasn’t used to such gentle-ness from his friend, it felt nice.

“Alright, I’m gonna move you. ‘S that alright?” Hank asked for confirmation again.

Ra9, it’s so high. Daniel’s taunting words filled his head again. 

“Y.. Yes..” 

Hank began to slowly but surely maneuver Connor’s body so his back faced to railing and Connor was no longer peering over the edge. It was like something snapped, and Connor wasn’t as stiff anymore. Of course, nobody recovers immediately, so he still sustained a large amount of stiffness and panic. “Son, I need you to breathe. Match my breathing. Kay? In and out, slowly.”

Connor glanced at Hank who was exaggerating his breaths to get Connor to match it. The RK model did as instructed and began to attempt following the patterns.

“Good going, Connor.” Hank praised in assurance, still continuing the emphasized breathing. Connor kept following it. It took a few solid minutes, but it was back to a decent level. He knew that his breathing pace could change, once again to mimic human emotions, but at deviancy this was able to happen at any time. He disliked it, it overworked his biocomponents. When Hank thought Connor’s breathing was at an acceptable rate, he stopped the emphasis and gave an awkward yet somehow reassuring smile. “We’re gonna head home, you need the rest of the day off. We’ll talk about this when we get home and you’re calmed down.”

Task: Figure out the identity of the murder, and how the murder happened.

Connor shook his head at the older man’s claim. “We- We still need to invest- investigate, Lieutenant.” He persisted. Hank ignored this and began leading him to the door. Miller stood there and had an obvious eye on Connor which held concern. “Hank, really-”

“Bullshit, we’re going. Sumo will be happy to see you.” Connor gave in and didn’t reply.

“Is he alright, Anderson?” The officer asked quietly. Hank sighed and returned an unsure statement before informing him of their early departure and opening the door. “We’re goin’ home. Tell Fowler, will ya?”

Chris nodded and Hank gave a huff in response, taking Connor to the elevator.

Connor convinced himself, he was just out of it and the memory of Daniel was his mind tricking him. Which the latter was true, but nonetheless. He felt dumb. Being scared of heights because of one mistake? The android didn’t like it. He didn’t like these feelings.

\----

The trip home went by in a flash. For Connor, at least. At one point they were getting in Hank’s car and the next Hank was fiddling with his keys to get inside. Fortunately, Connor was calmer and his stress levels were now at 32% instead of the previous 84%. As the door opened, both males were bombarded by a furry giant woofing at them from a few feet away. Hank strolled past the Saint Bernard while Connor kneeled in front of him. Sumo jumped at him, momentarily spiking his stress, but the warmth and soft fur of the canine calming him down immediately.

“Sumo.” Hank said in warning.

“He’s alright, Hank.” Connor reassured in a soft tone unusual for him. Hank looked at Sumo before shrugging and slipping his jacket off. 

“Mkay, suit yourself. Don’t let the ol’ mutt slobber on you too much.” Connor laughed in response. This earned a smile from the Lieutenant, but he set his jacket down and averted his eyes. “Come sit down when you wanna talk. If you wanna. I ain’t gonna pressure you, or whatever.” 

He coughed awkwardly and went to the couch, sitting down and switching the television on to a low volume. Connor followed Hank with his eyes but stayed in his kneeling position, scratching behind Sumo’s ears with a bite of his lip. He almost wanted to just gloss over this, but at the same, he knew nothing would change if he did. Emotions quite literally, to put it nicely, suck. Instead, Connor stood and followed suit. The android sat down and said nothing.

There was heavy silence for a long moment but Hank soon spoke up. “Who’s Daniel?”

Connor blinked, he’d be more confused than anything if it weren’t for his stress levels spiking. He convinced himself to stay calm and sighed. “How do you know about Daniel?”

“How could I not? You were sobbin’ that name while looking over that fuckin’ edge.”

“Oh.” Connor said simply. Hank quirked a brow, if he were nonverbally asking for an explanation. “Remember that deviant case I told you about at Chicken Feed?”

“Yeah, that one with Emily or somethin’.”  


“Emma.”

“Whatever.”

“Well, as I informed you, a deviant was threatening to jump off the roof with her. His name was Daniel.” Connor started. Hank began to piece it together. “I, um, as I said, I managed to save her. But I sacrificed myself doing so.”

“Whaddya mean-?” 

“I couldn’t manage to compromise with him so I jumped off the roof with him to save the little girl.” Hank looked at him with a saddened expression but was unsure on what to say.

“When I looked over the hotel edge, I assume that triggered the memories of me and Daniel falling since the situations correlate. But it was a manipulation of my memory of falling, like my mind was taunting me. Daniel kept telling me I was a machine and should be guilty for capturing all the deviants I had captured in the past.” Connor explained with a hushed voice.

“That’s why you were sayin’ all that..” Hank said, explaining it to himself. His eyes were trained on Connor though. “You know it isn’t your fault though, right Con? You were just following instructions.”

Connor gave a bitter sigh. “I know. I just feel guilty.”

Hank leaned over and put a hand on Connor’s arm. “I know, kid. If I were in that position, I’d probably drown myself in alcohol like the coward I am. You’re stronger than me, that’s for sure. I’d say you’re the strongest kid I know.”

Hank, not realizing how sappy that sounds, paused as Connor gave him a mushy yet teasing smile. Despite his stress levels being slightly over average, he felt comforted by the man’s words. “Don’t gimme that look. Just shut it and let me be nice for once.”

Connor found Hank’s embarrassment humorous but nodded. “Alright, Hank. Thank you.”

The old man chuckled and pulled the android over, causing a surprising ‘Agh.’ from the robot. Sumo woofed and hopped up onto the couch cushions to sit on both their laps. He took up all the space, effectively trapping both. Hank groaned. Connor laughed.

Maybe it would be alright.

o·ver·come  
/ˌōvərˈkəm/  
verb  
succeed in dealing with (a problem or difficulty).


End file.
